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US names prisoners slated for indefinite detention

Updated at: 06/17/2013 8:35 PM
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(AP) GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A list released by the U.S. government Monday identifies several dozen Guantanamo Bay prisoners who have been designated as too dangerous to release but who can’t be prosecuted.

Those on the list are prisoners who have been held without charge under the Authorized Use of Military Force act passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush in 2001, said a spokesman for the Pentagon, Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale.

The names of all Guantanamo prisoners have been public for years. But the administration of President Barack Obama had declined to disclose which detainees had been designated for indefinite detention in 2010 by an inter-agency review panel, even though the identity of many of them was widely known through their lawyers.

The government released the list after The Miami Herald sued for the document under the Freedom of Information Act.

Most of the 48 on the list are from Yemen and Afghanistan. Two are now dead _ one by suicide, the other by heart attack.

The list also names nearly two dozen prisoners who have been recommended for prosecution, including Khalid Sheikh Mohmmed, who is already on trial for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 attack, and Hambali, an alleged Indonesian terrorist leader.

There are a total of 166 prisoners at Guantanamo. The government has said it wants to release or transfer the remaining prisoners to their homelands or other countries pending adequate security safeguards to prevent the men from attacking the U.S. or its allies.